SOUTHEND United’s supporters will be seeing their side in action against Chesterfield tomorrow.

But 12 years ago to this very weekend they witnessed the arrival of a new striking superstar.

Freddy Eastwood was thrust into the starting line-up against Swansea City at Roots Hall after signing on loan from non league Grays Athletic.

And he responded by scoring a hat-trick on what remains the best debut that then Shrimpers boss Steve Tilson has ever seen.

“I remember just throwing Freddy in the deep end really by giving him a start and what followed was incredible,” said Tilson.

“He scored after 7.7 seconds which wasn’t too bad was it!

“It was against a really good side in Swansea who I’m pretty sure had Lee Trundle, Garry Monk and Roberto Martinez all playing.

“But nothing seemed to phase Freddy and I knew he would be able to score goals because he had that knack you need.

“I think if you’re a goalscorer like that you can do it at any level but the thing with Freddy was that he scored all types of goals.

“He scored with both feet, he scored headers, long range screamers and tap ins as well.

“He was fantastic for us and I thought he would go on to play at the top, top level of the game which for some reason never did happen.”

Eastwood’s hat-trick on his debut secured the Shrimpers a 4-2 victory against the Swans and set the new Roots Hall hero up for the rest of the season.

Eastwood ended that campaign with 24 goals as Tilson’s team won promotion via the League Two play-offs.

The following season, Eastwood bagged 25 as the Shrimpers clinched the League One title.

Sixteen more followed in the Championship the following season before Eastwood joined Wolverhampton Wanderers for £1.5million in July 2007.

However, Eastwood joined Coventry for £1.2million just a year later before returning to Blues in March 2012 to see out the remainder of his career.

A troublesome knee injury stopped Eastwood repeating the heroics of his stunning first spell.

But Eastwood - who will be back at Roots Hall this weekend - insists he will never forget his dream debut.

“It kick-started my whole career really,” said Eastwood.

“I think Swansea were top and we were about third so it was a really big game.

“I was really excited about playing and making my debut and it couldn’t really have gone much better.

“It’s one of my best memories.”